Over the years, that woman would end up sharing a lot of wisdom to this young man about how to be a gentleman. How to approach and care for a woman. How to listen and make a woman feel special. She allowed him to test a few of his theories about seduction with her and she gently steered him towards the appropriate resources he needed. She never took the role of being a mom to him, but her mentorship was covered with motherly love.
She checked in on his scholarly efforts and would lend him a number of age appropriate books that helped him expand his horizons. He learned that different cultures treated people differently based on many factors. He learned that women not only could outperform men, they were not trying to always compete with men. He learned that listening is a powerful tool… a tool he’s still learning to use.
The week after her snowy ordeal, she paid the angry man back. He had parked in her same spot, thinking he was forcing her to cross the large parking lot in the snow. She found out that he had parked the other two cars close to hers to box her in next to the snowbank. So, she returned the favor by parking right behind his bumper. The man nearly roasted his tires trying to push her car back to escape. When word got out about how she had managed to get free and he could not, his ego took a bruising that he never quite recovered from.
By the time this young man had reached the doorstep of high school, he was ready to ask a lot of questions. He had learned so much and was ready for more. Alas, life would have it that his trajectory changed. The economy had changed such that relocation was necessary for survival.
What followed was a lot of chaos and wondering. Without a voice letting him understand his most carefully guarded feelings, the young man did knot know who to trust and turn to for guidance. Before readers ask about his parents, they were there and very involved in his formation into adulthood. A child just never knows how to discuss the gravitational forces he faces… it’s just awkward… if not wise to avoid entirely (not true actually, but that’s how young folks think many times)
The disgraced man somehow took note of the schooling the young man was receiving and tried to use that against the lady. Word got to his parents who took an extremely dim view of the fabricated information. To protect the wellness of their son, they sheltered him even more and watched all his movements around any and all women. Their view made him feel that he had done wrong and brought about great shame to the family name. So he vaulted everything up and just watched from a distance the world’s progress.
It wasn’t until his discovery of the internet’s various chat rooms while trying to program a game for the company that would eventually become a household name… that he discovered that his feelings were not abnormal at all. His desires were very much fitting a gentleman who wants to protect any damsel in distress (or not in distress).
By then, he was wary and cautious. His academic pursuits were center stage and his strongest asset. It would be many many years before he would ever open up the vault with anyone. You, dear reader, are getting a glimpse inside this vault today in honor of the lady who made him understand that he was not weird, evil, wrong, or a sinner for finding girls attractive. (let’s not even thing about the non-vanilla aspect of attraction he felt…)
Shallows of the Deep 